The Mayan Calendar
The Mayan Calendar Explained
Here is an introduction to the workings of the Mayan Calendar but it is so much more than just a count of days. Living the Mayan calendar is the difficult bit and although there is lots of information out there rarely do you find anything that helps. We can show you how we live by the Mayan calendar; after all we do live in the heart of the Mayan Jungle with the Mayan people.
I suggest self study and research on the Calendar, although this will all be explained in our workshops, and this is mainly because there are many different views out there. There are 3 main characters you will come across, Jose A. Arguelles, Carl Calleman & John Major Jenkins. They each have different views. I would probably research them in the order given and the reasons will probably become apparent if you do. In my personal opinion I would have to say Jenkins is the most true to the Calendar but make up your own mind. Just a word of note… The 13 Moon stuff you may come across is nothing to do with the Mayan Calendar even though it is branded as such.
So what is the Mayan Calendar?
The Mayan calendar is a combination of two calendars, which are called, in the modern Yucatec Mayan language, Tzolk'in and Haab. First I'll describe the Tzolk'in.
The Tzolk'in-Calendar
Tzolk'in means 'count of days'. A date in this calendar consists of a number, 1 to 13, and the name of a day, of which there were 20. The day glyphs are shown below.
There was a lot of freedom in the drawing of Mayan glyphs; they could be drawn simply, or in detail.
In the Tzolk'in calendar, the numbers and days cycle together, like two interlocking gears. Suppose that today were 1 Imix. Tomorrow would be 2 Ik', and the day after tomorrow would be 3 Ak'bal. After 13 days, the cycle would reach 13 Ben. The next day, the numbers would start from 1 again: 1 Ix, 2 Men, etc. Twenty days after today, the date would be 7 Ajaw. Then, the cycle of day names would return to Imix: 8 Imix, 9 Ik', 10 Ak'bal etc.
Notice that this calendar has a cycle which repeats every 260 days (13 x 20 = 260). What is the use of such a calendar?
The Tzolk'in calendar was used for the same purpose as European astrology: divination. Each day in the 260-day cycle was associated with a god, and had its own character. The Maya used this calendar to determine which days were fortuitous for performing religious ceremonies, weddings, starting a trip, planting crops or a war, etc
The Haab-Calendar
Haab means 'year' in the Yucatec language. In the Haab calendar, a year is always 365 days long. The ancient Maya knew that the year really lasts 365 days plus a quarter, but they didn't see any need to deal with that bothersome quarter day.
The Maya divided the year into 18 time periods (which are loosely called 'months') of 20 days, plus a short 5-day month, which was considered very unlucky. Each month had a name, and each day of the month had a number.
The day numbers run from 0 to 19. The last day of a month is the 'sitting' of the next month. For example, in the month Xul, the dates are 1 Xul, 2 Xul etc. up until 19 Xul. The last day of Xul is 'chum Yaxk'in', which means, 'the sitting of Yaxk'in'. (Yaxk'in is the following month.)
The same applies to the short unlucky month Wayeb; the fifth day is 'chum Pop', 'the sitting of Pop'.
Together, the Calendar Cycle
In the Mayan system, to indicate the date of a specific day, the dates of the divination calendar and the year calendar are combined. For example 12 Lamat 15 Pop, or 4 Imix 18 Mol.
Imagine two gears which represent the two calendars: the Tzolk'in with 260 teeth, and the Haab with 365. The two gears turn together. How often does a specific day, for example 2 Men 19 Xul, return? If you multiply the number of days: 260 x 365 = 94900 days. But, the common factor of 260 and 365 is 5. Therefore, the cycle repeats every 18980 days (because 94900/5 = 18980). This is a cycle of 52 years (18980/365).
The beginning of a new 52-year period was an important event for the ancient Maya, as a change in century for us. They marked the occasion with new construction, for example, by enlarging their pyramids.
Long Count
A calendar which cycles every 52 years is not adequate for recording events which happened more than 52 years ago. (Similarly, with our Gregorian calendar, two digits are not enough for recording dates which happened more than a century ago.)
On their monuments, the Maya recorded dates using the 'Long Count'. ('Long Count' is a modern name.) The Long Count represents the number of days which have passed since the end of the previous Great Cycle, a period of 5125 years.
To understand the Long Count, it's useful to learn the names of Mayan time divisions.
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UNDERSTANDING THE LONG COUNT
The Maya counted by days, a l l the way forward from a generally accepted beginning of August 11, 3114, BC. (Eric c Thompson's correlation). That momentous day was on a 4 Ahau 8 Cumku. Supposedly, the Calendar would also end on another 4Ahau 8 Cumku, hence the 2012 predictions.
In order t o keep track of these thousands of days they developed a unique system of timekeeping based on a base 20 numbers. Each monument erected by the Maya was carefully dated showing exactly how many days had elapsed since 4 Ahau 8 Cumku (the beginning of the current count).
Other dates were added or subtracted from that erection date, which is called the initial series date.
They also had an endless concept of time termed the "Calendar Round" It utilized a 52-year cycle composed of two different calendars. These calendar "wheels", the Tzolk'in of 260 days, and the Haab of 365 days only came back to the same starting "cogs” or days, every 18,980 days or 52 years. Each day therefore, had four names:
- Day number, Day name, Month number, Month name,
- Tzolk'in date Haab date
Example: 11 Chuen 4 zip, 8 Ahau 8 Zotz
The first calendar is the sacred almanac the Tzolk'in. Thirteen numbers repeated themselves endlessly with 20 day names, which also repeated, to form the 260 day sacred year. (13 x 20 = 260 days) It began with 1 Imix and ended with 13 Ahau.
Day Names:
HAAB
The next part of the cycle is the 365 day year or Haab. It was composed of 18 months (UINALS) of 20 days each t o make a year of 360 days. ([18 x 20 = 360) five "unlucky" days called Uayab was a short month of 5 days and were added to bring the year to 365 days. This is the Solar year cycle as in the Gregorian calendar.
The month names were:
The numbers start at 0 - 19. A bar represent 5.
Once you've learned the basic Maya calendaric figures, you’ll see them jumping out at you from every stone YOU pass when visiting the Mayan sites with us. Despite a century of work by professional and amateur decoders, about one third still remains a mystery. We can figure dates, but not the meaning.
Maybe you'll be the one to go on and crack the Maya code?
Here is my Birthday, any idea when I was born?
